Just tried the game even on my iPhone. Who had the PORTRAIT idea? It's GENIOUS!!!! Seems even more gorgeous!!! Now I'm really torn between iPad and iPhone...so iCloud is a must Great work, really.
Played almost two more hours (on iPad). Flawless experience...amazing job really. If I have to do a (very minor) critique, it would be the bio screen, while VERY cool and a nice addition, I must say that the way you scroll the bios clash a bit with the general polish of the whole game. I do not pretend a 'turning page' animation, but at least the scrolling could be limited to the single right page, and maybe be vertical (like a portrait menu/web page inside of the book page). But as I said, very minor. For everyone else, the game is still absolutely AWESOME.
As a massive fan of the game since its release, I'm so glad to see it getting another chance at the popularity it deserves! Only just installed the game and there's a bunch of bugs/quirks I felt like sharing with the DotEmu team since they are posting here. - Cath's shrunk down head on the settings screen looks so bad. There's gotta be a more creative way of fitting him in that gap other than making him a pinhead. - I have found wiping between the static screen in the direction you are moving to be really disorientating. i.e. In the corridors it creates this weird sensation of turning right to face a compartment door and it rotating as if the door is directly in front of you the whole time you're turning. i.e. In the smoking car to go from standing to looking down at the blue table where the beetle is, it feels disorientating to go from turning right to a top down view. I realise that the static viewpoints are a limitation of the original game, but I think reverting to the original game's fades would lessen this disorientation. Perhaps with a brief pop up of the arrow indicating the turning direction if fades feel similar? - Pausing by going into the menu always rewinds my game to the last video sequence. Pretty frustrating. - Having the tips pop up as you fail should be turned off if the Tutorials option is off in the menu - it kinda just reads like a walkthrough and on top of the hint system really kills the atmosphere for me. For me, part of the immersive magic of the original game is how little the interface interferes during gameplay. - Vibration and the cross icon for every touch in an area without hot spots seems kinda over the top to me why not just have nothing happen? Remember Homer Simpson's everything's OK alarm? - The ambient train noise loops have an audible gap and what sounds like the click of a compartment opening in the corridor of the green car which kinda ruins the illusion. I don't remember this being in the original but maybe I'm wrong? Anyway, so glad to see this has come out and it does feel so perfect being played on an iPhone. Some of these porting quirks just kinda really jump out in a game that had such a high polish and attention to detail in the first place and I hope there'll be some updates.
Bought this for nostalgia's sake, but not so much into the whole "treachery, romance and international intrigue" setting. It's just me. The Last Express is a must have for adventure gamers
Spent an hour or two with this so far, and have mixed impressions. It's definitely hugely ambitious, but as often as not, probably inevitably, falls short of its mark. The ways in which it succeeds and distinguishes itself are probably of little interest to the general gamer; I can definitely see why it was not a success commercially. Memorable moments do crop up with some regularity, but at the same time the player is being asked to forgive the game a lot in exchange, particularly by today's standards. Clearly though, the game is fairly unique, and really should be experienced by anyone to whom gaming is something more than a casual, mindless pastime. It is "important" in that context, both for where it succeeds as well as for where it fails, but most of all for attempting to reach for something "gaming" isn't required to, nor expected to deliver.
Well, it must be said the back in the days the game was really well received and considered a masterpiece. I still have somewhere the USA print version of PC Gamer, where it was called the modern masterpiece of the adventures on the cover (or something like that). The fact that it was not a commercial success, if I recall well, was due to the fact that Broderbund went bankrupt the week the game was supposed to be out. It had nothing to do with the game itself. So no more advertising, not even shipping to shops in USA. I even think to recall they didn't even printed copies of the game anymore after like 1-2 months. In many places like Europe the game was distribuited like one year later with no marketing at all, after being acquired by someone else, as a budget title (Interplay? Really can't remember). Just for clarity...I do think it's one of the best adventures ever made. The real time aspect is still quite unique and unparalled imho.
I wanted to post my impressions for ppl me who have never played this game before and knew little about it before now like me. I'll skip right to heart of it and get to how it feels playing the game. At first the game is a bit intimidating because you have no idea how to move and interact with the invironment, but events are unfolding in the game world so there's some pressure to rush. After the initial hiccups of learning the game controls things start to come together nicely. There is a rewind mechanic that let's you, well rewind, so you can undo any blunder you may have made. To quickly surmise I will say that this game is quite pleasureable to play and its quite engrossing as you have to listen to the character dialogs, it pulls you in like a tv show or a movie. I did encounter some bugs while playing on ipad*3 but nothing game breaking, defiantly worth the dough and the space
From Jordan Mechner Thanks, everyone, for the great feedback on Last Express! I understand a fix was required to work on iPhone 5. DotEmu tells me this fix is completed and should be live soon. The 1.25GB download size is my fault, for putting so much dialog in the game 15 years ago It is big but I'm glad DotEmu kept everything, as the depth is what makes this game special. Me, I've been having lots of fun replaying it on my iPad and iPhone 4. Despite the ways it's dated, overall it holds up remarkably well. Even though I remember the main plot by heart, I've especially been enjoying eavesdropping on incidental characters' conversations (Abbot and Schmidt!), reading articles in the newspaper, Kronos's papers, Rebecca's diary, and of course listening to the Franck sonata... there are so many details in the game I'd nearly forgotten. Happy exploring! P.S. if you're curious about the original game, the backstory is on my website at http://jordanmechner.com/last-express/
Thank you for having made such a masterpiece. I'm replaying it now, and it's still amazing and tense like 15 years ago. I hope someday you will make something in the same vein again. The real time aspect of the game is IMHO still unparalleled. With this game and all the other games you made, you gave me so much enjoyment!!! But The Last Express will always have a special place in my heart. Thank you!!!
Can't help but take this opportunity to thank you for all the joy (and frustration ) you've brought to my life. You honor us with your virtual presence here at TA.
iPhone 5 issue fixed! Update 1.02 live Hi everyone, We have a great news! Update 1.02 fixing the game on iPhone 5 is released! iTunes shall display the new version in about 20-30 minutes. We worked like hell to provide the fix in time and we got the chance to have Apple's support to expedit the update in the shortest time we have ever seen. I think this is a clear proof The Last Express well worth it and as fan of retro games at DotEmu we belive this game absolutely need to get a second life for a whole new generation of gamer. If you like the game, please help us to share the news and to post reviews, this help a lot!
It is my understanding that you only need 1x uncompressed size free on your device if you install the game through your PC (iTunes). Something to keep in mind if you're low on space.
Yes working on iPad 1. The Last Express compatibility is : 3GS+, 4, 4S, 5; iPad 1,2,Retina, iPod Touch 3rd Gen+
